


Children of Stone and Dusk

by Pixel3r



Category: Metroid Series
Genre: Alien Culture, Bryyo, Galactic Federation - Freeform, Interspecies Romance, Other, Post-Prime Series, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-14 16:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18951844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixel3r/pseuds/Pixel3r
Summary: N'Korxxa is a Bryyo'mak youth, tasked with surviving for one day in the desert of Bryyo, when he stumbles upon some ancient technology.R-Vik is a Luminoth wanderer, trying to find a place where their conflicting light and dark natures can thrive.This is the story of how these two meet, and find belonging in each others' arms.





	Children of Stone and Dusk

Chapter 1

"Neverwalker in the Everwalk"

“Uuugh…” My vision slowly came back, the pounding in my head keeping time with both my hearts. I cradled my head as my sense of balance gradually returned. I’d likely only been out for a moment, but as the Elder said, anytime you left the waking world, you should be sure of where you’ve returned. I gingerly stood, looking myself over, checking for injuries. Six legs, tail, no fractures on my skull plate, I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t been injured.

Looking around, it became quite clear what had happened. I was in a sandy tunnel, thin shards of firecrystal scattered across the floor with me, the sun still mostly unmoved. I’d fallen down a gelbug nest. The elder might just kill me for making such a stupid mistake. Of course, that’s assuming I survive the rest of my trial.

One day, eight rests, alone in the D’Korx Desert. Hah. The hunters’ jeers rang through my head all over again. “N’Korxxa fa d’korx, N’Korxxa fa d’korx.” “Neverwalker in the Everwalk” How could a runt survive to maturity? The answer filled my throat. Spite. Sheer hate, tempered by quiet focus, and powered by rage. Spite sustained me since my hatching, spite would sustain me here.

I cleared my head with a shake, tapping my skull plate with one claw to refocus myself. The gelbugs had fled from the undamped sunlight, so I was without food, though this tunnel would make a decent shelter until nightfall. I ran my claw along the wall, but the stone was too strong, too smooth to climb. I gazed up at the lip of the tunnel. A half-remembered whisper told me to jump up there, to use the dark sorcery that still skulked in the corners of the land. But the louder voice of the elder’s wisdom echoed through right behind. “Trickery is for those with a mind. You cannot fool mother bryyo.” I turned from the sunlight filtering through the tunnel, looking into the depths of our earthen mother herself.

It was dark, and cold. Not likely to find any firewater, or the beasts that lived off it. But the tunnel was shallow, it could go upwards, or come out near enough to the surface that I could get to safety. Taking a last breath of the warm surface air, I made my way down the tunnel.

 

* * *

 

It was long, and singular. Hardly any passageways large enough for gelbugs, let alone any large enough for me. It got colder the deeper I went, and I could feel my body shutting down. I’d been walking for hours, or had it been days? Moments? Had I even left? Was this a dream?

A sudden slam to my face brought me out of that state for a moment. I’d walked into a slab of darker stone, perfectly flat, and- wait, something was off about this stone. Was it- it was! A wall of solid spiritstone!

Spiritstone had once been plentiful, in ages past, before the Adda’mak had claimed most of it for their blasphemous crafts. Now it was rare, except in the stone warriors, and the stone ring in the sky. Neither of which would react to the Bryyo’mak. The elder had a collection of spiritstone pebbles, and after a great deal of practice I’d learned to manipulate them, so maybe…

I pressed one claw to the stone slab, feeling within it with my own spirit. I found the thrumming heart of the spiritstone, and willed it to open the way. The stone shifted, cracks spiralling across its surface before it peeled away, releasing a burst of warm air. I scuttled in after, sealing the stone again to keep in the life-preserving warmth. I leaned against the stone, letting my body soak in the heat. I could feel my hearts begin to speed up once more, saved from the chill death of the outside tunnel.

After the warmth returned to me, I looked around my new surroundings, and felt a deep dread fill my bones. This was no natural cavern, nor a cave hollowed out by beasts, it was an Adda’mak ruin.


End file.
